As an IT professional, you are familiar with social engineering. You’ve probably even had specific training on social engineering and the ubiquitous threat it poses to your network. As a result, you look suspiciously at Melvin, the new facilities guy, as he makes small talk with Raynell at the front desk. Is that a thumb drive on his big key ring?

’Tis the season, though, to consider the odd cousin to the black hat hacker: the red hat hacker. Dressed in seasonally-appropriate attire, he ambles in the front door to claim the most comfortable chair in your office, schlepping a huge bag of contraband in from his sleigh, and almost immediately your entire organization is smitten, changing their behavior to put on a nice face where a naughty one had long stood, and telling the old guy all their secrets. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

The ELF Virus

At the heart of the red hat hacker’s arsenal is the ELF virus, a little-known variant of the Random Access Trojan. The ELF virus paralyzes your network with digital representations of sugarplums before deploying tiny, smiling malcontents into the very core of your data. The acronym stems from their trademark feature, Extremely Little Feet, but don’t let the pointy-toe shoes fool you. Once they gain access to your network, they will run away with your trade secrets, your wish lists, and all the items you circled in the J.C Penney catalog, in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.

Blitzen, Is That You?

ICS offers a heaping bagful of products and services to protect your organization from cyberthreats. We have a gift for providing the finest in network security solutions, from the North Pole to the South, and all points in between.

So give us a call. It beats sitting on the big guy’s lap and wishing for cybersecurity.

Happy Holidays from ICS.